Author: lyang20

This is already the 4th week of my 10-week intern. Everyday is so interesting and challenging that it is hard to realize I have spent almost a month in this charming environment. As required by the CPT program in my university, my supervisor will fill out a form concerning my progress and status since the start of my work in Apigee.

Yesterday morning, I handed the form to Solofi. I have been working hard and being cooperative and kind to people. That’s why I naively thought Solofi would do some quick circling on those “yes” on the form and hand it back to me immediately, with a big smile on his face.

Of course that did not happen.

Solofi took the form and start to read it carefully. “OK. It might take a couple minutes,” I thought. After about half an hour, Solofi walked to me with the form in hand and said, “Leon, let’s have a talk outside.” At that moment, I was sure that I have done something wrong-that’s what usually happens when a supervisor wants to talk with you at a quite corner after he/she fills out your progress form. I was totally lost.

We sat face to face at a corner of the lounge, Solofi without his common humor on his face. “Initiative and independence, yes, we do see your independence on the project,” he said, “sociability and interpersonal, yes, you’re sociable to everyone in the office.” Criticism usually don’t come first, I thought. And I was so ready for a “but” in his next sentence.

Solofi went on. However, to my surprise, he did not point out any “mistake” of my work, besides suggesting me to pay more attention on the problems that the GSC team usually meet to make the project more useful. Now I understand the meaning of this short talk. Solofi wanted to talk with me is not because I had made some huge mistakes and he had to curb before I create a disaster, but was because he does care about me, my progress, and my feeling. The talk was short, but it did make me feel more connected with GSC, and with the company.

I am glad that I have the chance to work with Solofi. I don’t want to praise you too much here, but to be honest, you ARE an excellent supervisor.